I am automatically inclined to see the potential in everyone.
Perhaps it’s why I adore villains (hello, Kylo and Loki) and shun most heroes (goodbye, Captain America): villains have the most possibility for change, which makes them more interesting to me.
But would I put a villain on one of my teams?
As a coach, I’ve caught myself tiptoeing around the fact that sometimes there is a team member who just shouldn’t be on that team. Or on any team in some cases.
Why don’t I just come out and say it?
Because I don’t want to feel like a failure. My role is to coach a team towards high performance. Part of that is coaching team members to work together as a team. If I can’t do that, I feel like I’ve failed.
Is not feeling like a failure as a coach more important than having an effective team?
So what do you do when you have a team member who’s affecting the performance of your team?
First, you do what you can.
What are the effects of their behavior on the team? Is the person aware of the impact of they have on the team? Have you tried coaching them in different ways? Has anything worked? Do they even want to be there?
Then, let’s stop being afraid of saying someone is just not right for the team.
Ask yourself, what do you lose by not having them on the team?
And, is that worth losing?
If it is…
Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash